Editing Pre-existence (section)

{{Short description|Belief that souls exist before conception}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2022}}
{{Redirect|Premortal life|the concept in the Latter Day Saint movement|Premortal life (Latter Day Saints)}}
[[File:Monreale god resting after creation.jpg|thumb|268x268px|''God resting after creation'' – [[Christ]] depicted as the creator of the world prior to his [[Incarnation (Christianity)|incarnation]] as [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]],<ref>George Ferguson, 1996 ''Signs & symbols in Christian art'' {{ISBN|0-19-501432-4}} page 92</ref> [[Byzantine mosaic]] in [[Monreale]], [[Sicily]].]]
'''Pre-existence''', '''premortal existence''', '''beforelife''', or '''life before birth''', is the belief that each individual human [[Soul (spirit)|soul]] existed before mortal [[Conception (biology)|conception]], and at [[Ensoulment|some point before birth]] enters or is placed into the body. Concepts of pre-existence can encompass either the belief that the soul came into existence at some time prior to conception or the belief that the soul is eternal. Alternative positions are [[traducianism]] and [[Creationism (soul)|creationism]], which both hold that the individual human soul does not come into existence until conception or later. It is to be distinguished from [[preformation]], which is about physical existence and applies to all living things.{{efn|[[Ancient Greek philosophy|Ancient Greek thought]] and [[Islam]] affirm pre-existence, but it is generally denied in Christianity.}}